Karim wrote more than 20 books of poetry, a novel, and some 15 works of art and music criticism. Born in Baghdad in 1945, Karim studied at Baghdad University, lived in Lebanon from 1969-1972, and then moved to London since 1978, where he lived until his death.

Carcanet published his first collection in English, Plague Lands and Other Poems which was published in translation in 2011, a collaboration between Anthony Howell and Abbas Kadhim.

In his remembrance of Karim, Howell writes:

Incomprehensible Lesson (2019), the second Carcanet selection of his work, describes his gradual acclimatisation to his refuge in Greenford, west London, while still possessed by the experiences of the past. The British poet James Kirkup wrote of Fawzi: “Karim is a poet for our times, with his strong yet beautiful voice, his indignation … and the haunting memories of certain lines that seem intended for all of us, but that few can hear in the endless tumult of what is called life.”